PARIS -The Israeli army operation in Al-Shifa hospital, targeting what it says is a Hamas command centre under Gaza’s biggest medical facility, on Wednesday (15) set off a wave of international condemnation.

The army had announced overnight it was carrying out “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” of the hospital where the UN estimates there are at least 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians.

An official from the Hamas-run health ministry who was in the hospital told AFP he could see tanks inside the compound.

Israel has long accused the Islamist group of using Gaza hospitals as bases, digging tunnels under Al-Shifa and exploiting patients as human shields.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to its attacks on October 7, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 240 hostages taken to Gaza.

The territory’s health ministry says Israel’s ensuing aerial bombardment and ground offensive have killed 11,320 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children.

– Hamas blames Biden –

The Islamists said US President Joe Biden was “wholly responsible for the assault on the Al-Shifa medical complex”.

“The adoption by the White House and the Pentagon of the occupation’s false claim that the resistance is using the Al-Shifa medical complex for military ends has given the green light to the occupation to commit more massacres against civilians.”

The Palestinian Authority that runs the occupied West Bank denounced the raid as a “flagrant violation” of international law, demanding world action to protect patients and civilians inside the facility.

– US says patients ‘must be protected’ –

The White House renewed its concerns for the safety of civilians shortly after the raid began.

The White House “won’t speak to the specifics of an ongoing Israeli military operation,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.

“We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we don’t want to see a firefight in a hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people trying to get the medical care they deserve are caught in the crossfire,” said the spokesperson.

“Hospitals and patients must be protected.”

Earlier, the White House had said US intelligence sources corroborated Israel’s claim that Hamas and another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, had buried an operational “command and control node” under Al-Shifa.

– Top UN officials say stop the ‘carnage’ –

The United Nations humanitarian chief demanded immediate action to “rein in the carnage”.

“As the carnage in Gaza reaches new levels of horror every day, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die…”

“An entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival. This cannot be allowed to continue,” said Martin Griffiths.

Griffiths stressed in a separate video statement he understood Israel wanted to find Hamas leaders, but insisted that was no excuse for turning hospitals into a battlefield.

“Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence,” he said.

– Red Cross and WHO voice ‘extreme concern’ –

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “extremely concerned about the impact on sick and wounded people, medical staff, and civilians”.

“All measures to avoid any consequences on them must be taken,” the ICRC said, insisting that “patients, medical staff, and civilians must be at all times protected”.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency had lost touch again with staff at the hospital.

“We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety.”

– Jordan calls out UN Security Council ‘silence’ –

Jordan accused the UN Security Council of enabling the “barbarism” of Israel’s raid on the hospital through its silence.

“The catastrophe in Al-Shifa hospital shows the barbarism UNSC’s silence is allowing,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote on X.

“We condemn the silence on this brutality. It is providing cover for war crimes. It is unacceptable, and unjustifiable. The Council must act.”

– ‘Going too far’ says Norway –

“That’s going too far and cannot be accepted”, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide in an email to AFP.

“It aggravates an already horrible humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

– Agence France-Presse